A question we get asked a lot of the time is: Why does training not stand the test of time?
Its’s a fair question.
This question is asked by business’ who outsource their training AND provide it in house. A call centre is made up of many individuals, all with different backgrounds, different qualifications, but a unique mindset. In fact, that applies to everyone on the planet. As different as well all are, one thing we have in common is the ability to loosen the grip when things are going well.
“Well things are going great right now; I will ride this and not change anything because why would I”
It’s short-term gain for long term risk. And it is the reason why so many businesses have problems with their training – they think it’s enough to last in the long term because it’s nice to believe 2 weeks’ worth of training (paid for or otherwise) will suffice for 6 months.
Wouldn’t that be just lovely?
Most companies will provide a new starter with 2 weeks training, then set them on their way into the firepit that is sales with their training expected to last until the next time the sales floor is trained…
…then they may have a collective period of training every 6 months where the whole sales floor has to attend.
This is not targeted training; it’s just casting a huge net and seeing what comes back. It’s not sustainable for several reasons:
- The training might be generic (sales volume, getting more ‘yes’ from customers, the 3 yes close)
- There will be salespeople involved in the training session that none of the training applies to, wasting their time and the trainers. Meaning they attend with the wrong mindset.
- It’s easy to cut corners if an agent’s mindset is not in the right place.
My point: You can’t just train your agents sporadically & untargeted and expect it to stand the test of time.
Making sales training last means embedding everything that is taught to those agents. It should be organized, and it should appeal to the correct people.
Embedding sales training means ongoing coaching, live listening and 1:1’s for as long as it takes for that agent to feel confident on the topic they were struggling with. This might takes weeks, it might take months, but it is extremely valuable.
This why training isn’t long lasting because it is forgotten about.
It’s not your fault and it’s the not the managers fault that the training isn’t embedded – finding the time is extremely difficult on a sales floor. Everything is running at 100mph, agents are trying to hit their targets and managers are trying to encourage their agents to do exactly that.
Having an external entity do the training and ensure the right process is followed will make it that much more valuable, because they have the time to do it while senior management can focus on the bigger picture, the result. The training and the process that follows is the foundation that allows the result to heavily improve.
If you head to ‘THE LAB’ you can see the difference training can make to your result over a long period of time when it is done correctly.
Recent Comments